The Taft School

Tuition Fee, room, and board: $62,500

Living on Campus

At Taft, we live where we learn, and learn where we live. Our dorms are meant to be, in every sense, a home away from home. For more than three-quarters of our student body, they are just that: they are places where friendships are formed, faculty becomes family, and comfortable spaces abound. They are where students live together, learn together, and grow together. For many, it is the first time they are living away from home. Our Residential Life team, which includes a director, dorm heads, resident faculty, deans, and dormitory monitors, is here to help.

Girls live in five houses: Centennial, Congdon, McIntosh, Upper School Girls Dorm (USGD), and Vogelstein. Boys live on the upper levels of Charles Phelps Taft (CPT) and Horace Dutton Taft (HDT) Halls and in Cruikshank House, all of which are connected on the lower level by our “Main Hall.” Main Hall is our campus hub: many classrooms, administrative offices, dining halls, and arts spaces are either on or accessed by this corridor, which runs end-to-end though CPT and HDT. The sense of community that Mr. Taft so valued and sought to build is given inherent rise through our architecture, as students, faculty, and administrators cross paths on Main Hall time and again throughout each day.

The standard of conduct at Taft is high, and life in the dorms is no exception. Every interaction must be rooted in personal integrity and respect for others. Tafties are expected to: make responsible decisions for themselves and consider the impact of those decisions on the full residential community; understand the importance of compromise and tolerance; respect the people they share space with; and respect both the stated and tacit rules, guidelines, and common values shaping life at Taft.While our students enjoy a good deal of independence and self-governance, most are living away from home for the first time, and appreciate support and guidance as they navigate the expectations of our community and the practical nuances of communal living. To that end, faculty members live in apartments in all of the dormitories at Taft. They help orient students when they first arrive on campus, and help them understand the rules and expectations of residential life. Outside of the dorms, students will often come to know their dorm parents as teachers, coaches, role models, and mentors.